Arce Name Meaning

Hernán Arce

is a Costa Rican novelist and poet. As a young boy Hernán Elizondo began writing poetry about his native Tilarán, encouraged by the Catalan educator, Don Domingo Flaqué. In 1945 at age twenty-four he published Alma, Dolar y Paisaje, a book of poems about rural life. The book contained a prologue by Don Pepé Figueres who recognized the talent of the young poet. A second book of poetry, Alma Criolla, appeared in 1953 and included the poem "Patria Mia" which won the Juegos Florales international prize. Hernán Elizondo's most well-received novel, Memorias de un Pobre Diablo, was translated into German and English, saw eight editions, and won several prizes, including first prize in both Juegos Florales in 1963 and Aquileo Echeverría de Novela in 1964. This novel explored rural Guanacaste with all its social, political and economic problems. Several other novels followed: La Cuidad y la Sombra, La Calle, el Jinete y Yo, Muerto al Amanecer, Adios, Prestiño, De Este Lado de la Eternidad, and most recently Capitán, Mi Capitán, the story of the Costa Rican war of 1948. Hernán Elizondo is also the author of La Ventana, a collection of stories published in the newspaper Excelsio, a compilation of articles published in Diario Extra under the title Como La Ventana, and El Santo, el Niño y el Mar, a long story about the life of Fray Casiano of Madrid.